ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602090103
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KAREN ADAMS STAFF WRITER
When Brian Boitano was 8 years old, he skittered across an ice rink for the first time and knew then he'd be doing it for the rest of his life.
``I remember holding onto the rail and slowly going around the edge, thinking, `I really, really love this,''' the 32-year-old Olympic figure skater and gold medalist said in a telephone interview. A little short of breath, he spoke from a pay phone outside the Hershey, Pa., rink where he had just been practicing.
Boitano explained that when he was 8 he had begged his father to take him ice skating after his mother had taken him to the Ice Follies. The graceful, spectacular performances had taken his breath away. He'd never seen anything like it.
Boitano, who will be in Roanoke tonight for the Tour of World Figure Skating Champions at the Roanoke Civic Center, still recalls a dazzling number that starred a woman garbed as an Egyptian queen. She was lowered from a pedestal by a group of male skaters and carried onto the ice. ``It made quite an impression on me,'' he said.
After that night, Boitano, already an avid roller skater, would strap on his wheels and let his imagination fly. ``Night and day I skated on the streets of Sunnyvale, California, pretending I was ice skating,'' he said, laughing.
Boitano's father, who was also his baseball coach and who had played semi-professionally himself, was shaping his young son's ability as a ball player and hoped he would pursue the game. Then came the day his father helped him onto the ice.
When Boitano announced his decision to concentrate on skating instead of baseball, his father was surprised, but supportive.
Throughout his childhood, Boitano admired many athletes, but his real role models were his own parents, who were - and still are - happily married. He said his parents had always let him be independent and do whatever he wanted, for which he is grateful.
``I had a very secure family life,'' he said. ``When I hear some of my friends talk about their dysfunctional families, it makes me realize how great my upbringing was.''
His brother and one of his two sisters also played sports, and even though his mother and other sister didn't, they still shared the others' enthusiasm. The entire family supported each other. They still do.
With such wholesome influences, perhaps it's no surprise that Boitano is one of those rare creatures: a celebrity who disdains celebrity.
``I tend to avoid celebrity types, people with a lot of money,'' he said. ``I'm more interested in people who have ordinary lives, who work with nuts and bolts for a living. I like people who aren't too impressed with themselves.''
Through Boitano's eyes, fame is a strange beast that makes it hard to maintain a normal life. ``When you walk into the Olympic Village, nobody knows your name, and when you walk out, everybody knows it.''
He talked happily, though, about the life-changing performance in Calgary in 1988 that earned him a gold medal. To prepare, he said, ``I visualized my entire performance - especially the triple. I saw myself doing it perfectly.'' The quest for perfection, he said, is what drives him. ``I want to be remembered for making the sport better.''
As an aside on the 1988 Olympics, Boitano said he was an admirer of the work of Uschi Kessler, choreographer for Brian Orser, who was his chief rival at Calgary. While talking with her there, he happened to mention how he had first become interested in skating as a boy. He described the scene with the Egyptian queen.
Uschi Kessler said, ``That was me!''
After Boitano went on to beat Orser and win the gold, Kessler joked that she was sorry she'd inspired him to skate.
``When you start out doing something, you never know how it'll end up,'' Boitano said with a laugh as he told the story.
Since Calgary, he has gone on to win many competitions, among them the World Professional Championship, the World Challenge of Champions, and the Men's Outdoor Figure Skating Challenge.
Recently he joined ABC Sports as a commentator, which he likes but finds challenging. "If you know so much about this - if you've dedicated your life to it - how do you explain it in 5 seconds?''
Boitano also directed and stars in the television special ``Skating Romance,'' which co-stars Oksana Baiul (to be shown Feb. 22 on the USA Network). Boitano was also responsible for the show's concept, casting and music selection.
``I felt that skating was going the MTV way and that people weren't performing the classics anymore,'' he said. ``We were neglecting the romantic aspect of the sport.'' He loved working with Oksana Baiul, he said. ``She just floats over the ice.''
He is also a spokesman for the Starlight Foundation, which fulfills the wishes of seriously ill children. And he's added to his ``to join'' list those charities that take cats and dogs to visit convalescent homes.
Someday, when the pace slows down, he hopes to own a farm in California's Napa Valley where he can raise a family and have a vineyard and make wine. And maybe open a good Italian restaurant, too.
For all the fanfare in his life, Brian Boitano said he simply wants to be the best skater he can be and set a good example as an athlete and a person.
He said quietly. ``That's the best role model: someone who's good to people.''
Tour of World Figure Skating Champions: 8 tonight at the Roanoke Civic Center. Featuring Brian Boitano, Oksana Baiul, Viktor Petrenko and others. Tickets are $35; call the box office at 981-1201 or Ticketmaster at 343-8100.
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1988 Olympic gold-medal figure skater Brian Boitano:by CNBRecently he joined ABC Sports as a commentator, which he likes but
finds challenging. "If you know so much about this - if you've
dedicated your life to it - how do you explain it in 5 seconds?''
color.